“Interstates” on Hold, “Minutemen” in Full Action

Call me a hypocrite. Go on, call me one.

I know I made a huge deal a few weeks ago about rewriting The Dreaming Highway due to selling a religious novel cast to a secular market. And I still intend to do this. I’m part of the way through it, and I like where it’s going…it’s just…

Well, okay, I’m a little tired of working on this same story for a while, and I figure I will do best to rewrite it when it’s feeling fresh and invigorating. There, I just used the word “invigorating.” I’m still shopping the original version and title to agents and publishers. But, I am not currently feeling the rewritten story. Honestly, I’m ready to move onto other stories.

AND….I’m ready to move on to my next novel. I have officially started writing The Minutemen of Overland Park, Kansas, and I am really excited. I am not one of those writers who works from an outline. I like to build on the premise and just let it go. But, today, a perfect ending to this book came to my head and I cannot wait to see the story find itself there. I can’t wait for you to read it. I guess I need to write it first.

The Minutemen of Overland Park, Kansas is a dark comedic story about Mikey Burns, a banker and committed family man who can be counted on – to the exact minute – to eat lunch and dinner at the same time each day, who always shows up 10 minutes early to everything, and who doesn’t go anywhere without his inhaler. When the president of the bank is replaced by a new young hotshot who begins downsizing left and right, Mikey snaps out of his comfortable and predictable life and – along with a small group of bankers and office professionals – begins a string of unusual bank robberies in the Kansas City area.

The Road to “The Dreaming Interstate” 2

I just completed six pages in one hour! I really allowed my consciousness to flow here, and I’m really stoked that I made a part I was dreading to rewrite actually come alive differently. It’s funnier and more informative to the novel.

Twittering

Gotta work out for an hour, watch the debate, watch last night’s “Office” season premiere, and write 10 pages before bed.

The Road to “The Dreaming Interstate” 1

I’ve begun work on The Dreaming Interstate, the revamping of my first novel (formerly titled The Dreaming Highway.)

While it was disappointing to feel as though I had to start over on the work, I have begun to craft the story differently, and it is beginning to take on a new life. Telling the story in first-person was my original plan, and by the second draft of the original version, I had thrown that out due to other major characters, whose lack of knowledge of their lives and pasts would keep their stories from being told. I have fixed this by setting the story up for five first-person points-of-view.

I’m proud to say I’ve completed the first twenty-one pages. I’ll be keeping progress on this blog, and will eventually begin submitting the first chapter for review on GoodReads and WEBook.com.

By the way, if you happen to be on GoodReads, WEBook, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, be my friend. You think that’s too many links?

Technorati Tags: writing, novel, publishing, literary agent, goodreads, WEBook

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Starting Over, Part 2

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was in the process of revamping my novel, The Dreaming Highway. While this is somewhat true, I’ve decided to keep the original version of the story intact as I’ve already distributed several copies.

That said, in an attempt to commercialize certain elements of the story and to make other elements more artistic (and risky, perhaps), I have begun work on an alternate version, in which I am struggling between two alternative titles (of either version). I am either going with The Dreaming Interstate, or simply, Interstates. Which one do you like better?

In the alternative version of the story, our main character is no longer a seminary student. He is a high school English teacher. Rebekah is now a university professor and young philosophy doctoral student. Silas, the brother and wanderer, is now a television producer having just been fired from his job in New York (This will play into a sequel I have planned for a few years down the road.). Wiley is still a priest and former televangelist. And Haley,…well, Haley, I’m still torn on. I felt as though her job as a wedding planner was cliched and somewhat stereotypical for this kind of story, perhaps making the book fall into the Chick-Lit category. I’m thinking of making her a photographer.

Another big change in this version is that I’ve gone from telling the story in third-person to five first-person points-of-view. This has been done before, obviously, but I think it will make the narration less forceful and will allow each of the major characters to better portray their versions of the story.

I must say, I was extremely disappointed with the initial decision to rewrite the book (at least in a second version) for simple marketing reasons. I had put lots of time and effort into the first version for one thing. For another thing, I have had a brand new story brewing in my head for several months now, and was getting ready to begin work on it. The Minutemen of Overland Park, Kansas – a new story about a group of workaholic, overachieving bankers and office professionals who snap under the pressure of a new boss and begin a string of humorous and original bank heists in Kansas City – will be written in January of 2009 as I plan to complete the second version of The Dreaming Highway/Interstates by December of this year.

Though I am disappointed to postpone the writing of my new story, I am now becoming excited about telling my current story in a new way that will have more commercial appeal and achieve a sooner date of publication.

Which Writer’s Social Network Do You Use?

Apparently, creative writing is more popular than ever! There are all sorts of social networks cashing in on the MySpace, Facebook, and VIRB crowds.

So, here’s my question – just out of curiosity: Which of the three major writing networks (WEBook.com, Goodreads.com, and AgentQuery.com) do you use? And why?

I’m on all three, but I’d love to learn which ones are more worth the effort.

Starting Over

So I’m racking my brain right now trying to find a way not to do what may be inevitable. Anyone who has ever written a novel understands what I’m talking about. When you’ve put months (and possibly years) into writing a project, it takes on a personality of its own. Your book is a little like a child. You’ve guided and steered it in a certain direction, and then you begin to realize that your book may need some revitalization.

The idea for my first novel, The Dreaming Highway, came to me in 2006. I began writing the story in early 2007 with the intent of it being a spiritual tale that wasn’t religious. This story, I believed, had the potential of resonating with emerging minds and philosophies around the subjects of religion, tolerance, and justice. On top of all of that, the book did so in a humorous way. This project, I believed, would be an ideal mainstream novel in that it was funny, romantic, and sentimental.

As I wrapped the novel in late 2007 and began sending out queries in early 2008, I received the typical form rejection slip for the most part. Each week, I would receive a half-dozen new form letters with the salutation, “Dear Author.” I was grateful, at least, that the agent had the decency to read my actual letter.

One agent, however, did respond with a note of personal regret:

This story has remarkable potential. It does, however, present a problem in that it is a story centering around a religious backdrop. Readers may have trouble identifying with an all-religious cast in a secular novel.

This leads me to what Stephen King calls “killing your darlings.” A few days ago, I was working out when the thought came to me, Why do all of these characters have to be religious professionals? I was puzzled because I couldn’t come up with an answer. With the exception of one character, Father Wiley (whose profession and character play an important and humorous part in the story), the rest of the characters seem sort of trapped in their professions. And I wanted the story to be less about the religious complexity of the main character Seth and more about the overall spiritual and physical quest for answers to his dream.

That said, I think it’s time to do some house cleaning. Before sending my next batch of query letters out, I am going to make some changes to the professions of most of the characters. I’m also thinking of giving five points-of-view in the story, making each part a first-person narration. This may make the dream more believable and easier to care about.

Anybody else out there know the feeling of starting from scratch?

Bryan Thompson Needs An Agent

I have officially decided to move my blog back to WordPress. WordPress is going to be a much better and more efficient way to post due to a.) a very handy WordPress app for my iPhone, and b.) it’s just so much cooler than Blogspirit. Blogspirit was a good home to me for three years, but it’s time to move on. I was ready, Blogspirit was not so much.

This site will also tend to focus more on writing – the craft, the market, the search for agents and publication. I’ll still be posting random thoughts on religion, spirituality, philosophy, politics (maybe), and the like. But, primarily, it will be a haven for writers, agents, publishers, and so on.

And by the way, speaking of literary agents, there’s a good possibility that some of you are literary agents who have come here by way of my query letter, I hope you will find good writing and some reasons to support my book (or two). In any case, I wish you well. Welcome to the official “Bryan Thompson Needs An Agent” blog.